Given top journal award in International Business

29 March 2019

Research Professor Gabriel R.G. Benito is receiving an award from the Journal of International Business Studies (JIBS) for the many significant articles he has contributed to the journal.

“This is recognition of the sound quality of Professor Benito’s research work over the years and puts the department on the map as a relevant and attractive place to work and visit,” says Professor Randi Lunnan, head of the Department of Strategy and Entrepreneurship.

Benito is being awarded the distinction to mark the Journal of International Business Studies (JIBS) achieving its half-century this year. The Academy of International Business, the leading association of researchers in International Business, which is responsible for JIBS, is celebrating the anniversary by making awards to those researchers who have published most in the journal down through the years.

“I didn’t attain the heights of the most distinguished Gold Medal category - that was only awarded to 16 researchers – but together with 104 others I was awarded a Silver Medal. That’s still distinguished company to be keeping, and I am proud to have been included,” Benito says.

In the Academic Journal Guide, the journal ranks in the top category of 4* Journals of Distinction together with a handful of other world-leading journals within their fields.

“It’s very difficult to get into JIBS, and the articles it publishes are often quoted, so the contributions are of consistently high quality,” Benito goes on.

Have you targeted your work towards being published in JIBS and other journals of this calibre? If so, what has it meant for the way you have had to work?

“Publishing at this level (ABS 4*) is demanding. The issue and theoretical basis have to be newsworthy, and research design, data and analysis have to be high quality, but the system is structured to avoid acceptance, and more often than not it’s a case of ‘better luck next time!’. My formula has been simple: collaborate with good, capable colleagues, and try, try, try again. I’m very used to receiving rejection letters.”

What is your relationship with this journal in particular?

“A lot of my research is in International Business, so JIBS is altogether central to my professional life. It’s the top journal bar none in its field. I’ve had various roles there over the years: apart from being a reviewer, I was on the editorial review board for some years; and now I’m in my fifth term (every term lasts two years) as Consulting Editor. As such, it often falls to me to write the rejection letters.”

Are there any of the projects you are especially proud of?

“The work I’m most proud of is probably my very first JIBS article, which I wrote together with Geir Gripsrud, professor emeritus at BI. At the time I thought it would probably be my only one, but there have been a further six articles in JIBS .... so far.”